Acrobatic figure toy



July 26, 1955 M. GLASS ACROBATIC FIGURE TOY INVENTOR. Marv/n! Glass BYK445 ATTORNEY Filed Dec. 29, 1952 United States Patent ACRDBATIC FIGURETOY Marvin I. Glass, Chicago, Ill.

Application December 29, 1952, Serial No. 328,411

2 Claims. (Cl. 46-133) This invention relates to toys and moreparticularly to a toy which may be manually manipulated to performacrobatics and the like.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a toy which may bemanipulated by the hands to perform acrobatics and assume variouspositions on a supporting bar.

Another object of this invention is to provide a toy figure supported ona bar, which bar is manually manip ulated to cause the supported figureto move in simulation of an acrobat performing on a bar.

Another object is to provide a toy of the foregoing character which iscounterweighted so that the weight above the bar is slightly less thanthe weight below the bar to permit the toy to be operated smoothly andproperly.

Another object of this invention is to provide a toy which is verysimple and inexpensive to manufacture and which has great play value byvirtue of the fact that it may be easily manipulated by a child to causethe toy character to perform various acrobatic motions.

Other objects will become apparent as this description progresses.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a front view of the toy and showing in dotted lines amanipulated position of same,

Fig. 2 is a side view and showing in dotted lines various manipulatedpositions,

Fig. 3 is a side view in another position,

Fig. 4 is a side view partly in cross section of same, and

Fig. 5 is a view of the toy with the supporting bar held in a verticalposition.

Generally, the toy comprises a toy figure generally indicated at whichis secured to and suspended from cross bar 12, which cross bar is heldand manipulated by the hands to cause the toy figure to perform variousacrobatics on said bar. More specifically, the toy figure generallyindicated at 10 comprises an upper hollow body portion 14 formed of twohalf sections jointed together. The half sections when joined togetherprovide two circular shoulder openings or sockets and a circular topopening 22. The upper body portion 14 is widest at the shoulder portionand tapers inwardly as at 24 and then outwardly as at 26 to provide awaist portion 28.

Fixedly secured to the bar 12 as at 16 are the hands 18 of a pair ofupper limb members or arm 30 each somewhat L shaped and each havingcylindrical terminating stubs 32 which are positioned and secured withinthe annular sockets or openings 20. The two arms are joined together bya cross member 34 extending inside the hollow body portion, which issecurely fixed at its opposite ends to the inner ends of the stubs 32.

A head 36 has an annular depending neck portion 38, which passes throughthe opening 22. The neck portion has a transverse opening 40 throughwhich the cross member 34 extends and whereby said head is secured tosaid body. It will be noted that the transverse open- 't-" atentecl July26, 1955 "ice ing 40 is larger than the circumference of the crossmember 34 and the opening 22 is larger than the neck 38 to permit thehead to rock back and forth as well as move sidewise.

Secured to the body 14 at the waist 28 and extending downwardlytherefrom is a flexible cloth member 42 which in the representationshown forms the trousers of the figure. Secured to the lower portions ofthe cloth trousers are a pair of legs 44 having weighted feet 46.

The bar 12 has one end upturned as at 13 at right angles to the bar. Ahandle member 48 is secured to one end of the cross bar 12 and anotherhandle 50 is secured to the other longitudinal end of the cross bar. Thehandle 50 may be slotted at its end and pushed in adjacent the upturnedend and may be closed by means of a plug which when securely fastened asby glue or otherwise locks said handle on the end of the cross bar andforms the other handle portion. Mounted on the upturned end 13 of thebar is a circular metal weight 52 which forms a counterweight. Thecounterweight is positioned from the vertical plane of the suspendedfigure when same is suspended. The counterweight is slightly less thanthe weight of the suspended figure and its purpose is to distribute theweight above and below the bar so that when the toy is held in the handsand rotated the rotation will be uniform thus facilitating the operationof the toy.

When the handles 4% and 50 are engaged and the cross bar 12 is twirledor rotated in either direction the arms or upper limbs 30 are rotatedtherewith. The stubs 32 of the arms will rotate in the sockets 20 withrespect to said body 14. Rotating of the bar 12 will therefore cause thesuspended arms to rotate therewith and thereby move said arms from asuspended position to any position above, below or forwardly orrearWardly of the bar. By elevating the arms above the bar (dotted linesFig. l), the head 36, body 14 and the rest of the figure arecorrespondingly moved with respect to the bar, and various acrobaticpositions are assumed by the figure with respect to the cross bar,simulating that of a person moving about on a horizontal gymnastic bar.Since the lower portion of the figure, represented by the flexible clothportion is weighted down by the legs and feet it will swing freely andmove with respect to the upper portion of the body. Since the top of thehead 36 is spaced slightly from the cross bar 12 the body 14 as well asthe head 36 moves around said cross bar, that is, moves under and abovesaid cross bar 12. As the cross bar is manipulated the head 36 will rockback and forth as well as sidewise, thus providing additional interestfor the toy.

The dotted line position of Fig. 1 shows the momentary position of thefigure when same has been manipulated to position the arms above thebar. The cloth 42 and feet 46 will immediately drop either in front orto the rear of the body 14 by virtue of the flexibility of the cloth 42and the weight of the feet 46 and will cause the body 14 to rotatecorrespondingly. Fig. 3 shows the figure positioned rearwardly of thebar with the legs draped over the bar. Fig. 5 shows the toy manipulatedwith the bar held in a vertical position.

By virtue of the construction, the body 14 is free to rotate withrespect to the stationary arms and correspondingly the head on the bodymoves and rotates with said body. The flexible portion 42 and weightedfeet 46 in a measure control the rotation of the body and add to theunusual acrobatic positions of the figure.

It will be understood that various changes may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a portable manually suspended acrobatic toy t comprising a barhaving a pair of handle members secured to the opposite ends thereof andby which said bar is manually supported and manipulated, a counterweightextending above said bar, a toy figure supported below said bar, saidtoy figure having a pair of arms fixedly secured to said bar to rotatetherewith, a body member having means for receiving the inner ends ofsaid arms, said body member being rotatable with respect to said arms, ahead member secured to the top of said body member, a lower portionformed of a flexible cloth secured to said body portion, and weightedfeet members secured to the lower end of said cloth member, saidcounterweight being positioned approximately 180 with respect to saidfigure and so constructed and arranged that the weight of thecounterweight is slightly less than the weight of said figure.

2. In a portable manually suspended acrobatic toy of the characterdescribed comprising a bar having handle engaging ends at the oppositeends thereof and by which said bar is manually supported andmanipulated, a

counterweight member positioned above said bar, a toy figure secured tosaid bar below the top thereof, said toy figure having a pair of armmembers fixedly secured to said bar, said arm members having socketengaging ends, a hollow body portion having sockets to receive saidsocket engaging ends, a transverse connecting member within said bodyand secured to the opposite ends of said socket engaging ends, a headhaving a depending neck, said neck having a transverse opening wherebysaid head is secured to said transverse connecting member, a cloth lowerbody portion secured to said body, and a pair of feet members secured tothe lower end of said cloth body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES iATENTS2,113,839 Hedges Apr. 12, 1938 2,256,666 Chojmik Sept. 23, 194! FOREIGNPATENTS 267,724 Germany 1913

